BC Climate: Monthly summary and long term trends

Author
Affiliation

Aseem Sharma e-mail: aseem.sharma@gov.bc.ca

Future Forest Ecosystems Centre, FCCSB, OCF, BC Ministry of Forests

Published

January 18, 2024

1 Climate summary of year 2023

  • annual average temperature was above normal by 2.15°C (spatial range: 0.42°C - 3.63°C).
  • precipitation was less then normal ( upto -36%, average -18%) for most of BC except part of north-western region.
  • While temperature related parameters ( mean, minimum, maximum temperature and VPD) exhibit higher then normal values, moisture related parameters (RH, soil moisture) were below normal for most of the province.

2 December-2023 climate summary

  • December-2023 was on was the warmest December ever recorded in BC with 5.45°C (spatial range: 1.54°C - 10.19°C) above normal average temperature
  • Most of BC experienced lower then normal precipitation in December-2023 except north-western region of BC.
  • The average of previous 12 months climate parameters indicate that BC experienced substantially warmer and drier climate then normal between November 2022 and December 2023.
  • The mean December 2023temperature in BC is increasing but the rate of increase is not statistically significant.

Below you find the spatial anomalies and long term trend of air temperature, vapor pressure deficit (VPD), total monthly precipitation, relative humidity (RH), and volumetric soil moisture (0 - 1m depth) for the month of December-2023.

3 Mean temperature and vapor pressure deficit (VPD)

3.1 Anomaly: December-2023

Figure 1: Anomalies in mean temperature and VPD for December 2023 relative to climate average of December 1981 - 2010.

3.2 Last 12 months anomaly: November 2022 to December 2023

Figure 2: Average anomalies in mean temperature and VPD for November 2022 to December 2023 relative to climate average of 1981 - 2010 .

4 Precipitation, Relative Humidity (RH) and soil moisture

4.1 Anomaly: December-2023

Figure 5: Anomalies in total precipitation, relative humidity and volumetric soil mositure (0-1m) for December 2023 relative to climate average of December 1981 - 2010.

4.2 Last 12 months anomaly: November 2022 to December 2023

Figure 6: Anomalies in total precipitation, relative humidity and volumetric soil moisture (0-1m) for November 2022 to December 2023 relative to climate average of 1981 - 2010.